Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

haha ive always found alienwares look stupid. its just a plain top with an alienhead there. it looks wierd. more than ever now the surface of the top makes it look even cheaper than the rest

 

Your existing warranty will be moved to the replacement's service tag. Adding on to the existing warranty is something you have to negotiate during the configuration of the replacement system.

@Slammin:
No worries - each to their own. You gonna send me a comb for the holder on the lid? Personally, I love the ALL ALUMINUM design. None of that cheapy plastic with carbon fiber look. Did I mention the chassis is nice and COLD to the touch, even under load?

 

I've just emailed a comb now!

Ow that hurts - you've just hit my pet dislike of the 1730, cheesy carbon fibre. LOL That's exactly what I thought too when I 1st saw it in a kiosk, my wife even laughed at it. I got over that I guess I'd have to get over the faces on a laptop too.

 

Nice - Hey I love the cheesy Alien Head baseball hat and sticker that came with the laptop...

 

Sheeet I can't even tell if that's a joke or not.

 

batboy, did you pay for your m17x replacement and how much did you pay?

wat was your 1730 configuration?

 

I know, but Dell doesnt write down the service tags appearently after a swap. No data or anything is known by Dell about my old M1710. They destroyed the services calls/tracks/support thatw as given. For them, I payed for the M1730.

I'm really starting to doubt the whole deal. Yes, CPU HHD etc is an upgrade... but using this laptop will be my main gaming rig aswell. The Sli is a warm addition for more FPS. ( According the Dell guy,most games arent supported... which is alot of crap ofcourse.

If I'm getting them ATI Radeon HD 4670, im cancelling.

 

As b4 I wouldn't accept the 16 as it is a downgrade, go for cash.

FWIW Here in Asia Pacific they definately DO keep the records. I know this because my 1710 was in my wifes name (for tax) and my name was the 2ndry contact. When we got the cash refund I went out and bought the 1730 in just my name and during the last service schmozzle I had one of the cust' serv' rep's verify my details to check the pickup address ph# etc. They had my phone number and address from 2 years ago. I checked what computer that was and they said it was from the 1710 complete with the service tag.

To sum it up the database is huge and I wouldn't believe anything they say.

 

dell just gave me a quote. extra 1202 sgd inclusive of tax for the m17x with qx9300 and sli 280s

says that my system price has depreciated hence they cannot count it as the 5500 i paid for it. and if i want to request for a refund they would give me the depreciated price as well, which is around 3668 dollars.

ive seen on the singapore site that a m17x with the specs i want costs around 6586 with 3 years warranty which is about 1.1k more than the 5500 i paid originally.

the warranty for my system would carry over though, so i would have 2 years left, which means i lose about 70 dollars compared to if i bought an m17x off the site directly with 3 years warranty.

all i have to do now is convince my dad T.T

 

. . .still too early for me to stop gut-laughing at stuff like that.

No seriously. I like the chassis material - stays cool. I liked the design too, but Slammin. . . damn it. . . blasted Slammin! Combs. . . Bahaha. Sorry.

Okay. Anyway.

I will do some hard thinking about this situation. BatBoy, they f'd up again. They had agreed to collect the replacement system tomorrow. Now I get an e-mail from their collections department to confirm a suitable date. ?!

Bah. I think I'll try to get rid off both machines, back-to-back, sometime next week.

As for the Studio. No. Just no.

Don't actually take 'advice' fromm the Dell reps. Half of them don't even know what they're talking about. Anyone remember the stupid responses when our bios was updated to accommodate the new--yet to be disclosed--video cards (9-series). I remember an XPS support rep. told one of our members that it was for the 8700m, which is a bloody joke because the old bios already supposed the 8700 - it was the first card on these machines!

Meh, I'm just saying that SLi has some solid benefits, and you can see them as clearly as day in quite a few games. Unlike others who downplay the benefits of SLi, I can say honestly that there are a good few games out there that utilise SLi, especially the new good-looking ones, and that if the performance remains stable, you can almost see a doubling of the frame-rates.

Just take the cash, or if you're really up for the M1730 again, try to get a better replacement.

RubyBoy79, best of luck. This whole deppreciated price non-sense seems tacky to me. Maybe I'll step away from this one and read up a bit more on your situation, make sure I have the right perspective. Good luck.

 

If I get what you're saying, that's a real load of BS really from Dell's part. I ever once called Dell and asked if a replacement 9800M GT SLI card can be purchased for my friend who had a single 8700M GT in his M1730. "Oh I'm sorry but your system is not compatible with the SLI card." That really blew me off. And I took matters on my own hands; bought the 9800M GT cards from ebay, sold off the 8700M GT, installed and upgraded to BIOS A10 and it works like a charm.

Well it looks like you and I are in opposite directions. I get all my upgrade parts from ebay. I bought mine for just SGD$3400 with the very basic specs, and then uped the parts myself and bought an X9000, dual 500GB HDDs, 8Gigs and everything else. I calculated and saved over SGD1500 as opposed to buying the exact full spec'd system from Dell.

Sorry I couldn't help on the monetary issues, as I'm more of the hardware inclined techie; just want to correct about that compatibility issue Dell has imposed on you, but when you get your new M17x, monitor it everyday and enjoy it.

 

thx.. i dont know about the depreciation thing but i guess it makes some sense if you see it in their perspective. i mean you cant expect 8800mgtx slis to be same priced as 280mslis now even though they cost the same on the website. the 280s now cost an extra 1k and so did the 8800gtxes in my country a year ago. so i dunno.. makes sense but i feel they could have given a better price though

 

cool your from singapore too? they dint say its not compatible they just said they cant sell it that way. i dont know why but they seemed adamant.

i even asked about the 9800mgtxes and again they say they cannot sell just the cards so this time i think im going to max out my m17x for that hefty price just to be safe since i dont trust ebay stuff.

anyway, which ebay seller do you get your stuff from? i might consider if my dad doesnt agree to the 1202 extra for the m17x maxed out

 

oh and about the m17x, ive noticed the options for hdds are all raided and the set ive been quoted comes with 2x500gb raid 0. is it a hardware raid or i can just disable the raid on the mobo/in windows to get 1tb of hd space?

is raid necessary? i know it increases performance and reliability but does it help in gaming performance? id rather have 1tb of space than a raided system for reliability and faster loading times since i backup my stuff regularly and i dont have an issue with the load times on my current 7200rpm hard drive

 

Dude, that's exactly my point: It's not your problem to consider 'their side'. You put x about of money, and they can't say your x has depreciated when their product failed to live up to the price 'x'. Logically, you should be given back the 'x' since they failed to deliver.

I'm starting to notice that they're kind of giving you the harsh treatment. Hell, everything short of taking advantage of you, I'd say. They will do this if they can get away with the act. Afterall, this is how their tactics begin; first priority is to come up with a 'solution' that saves their own company as much money as possible. So where they see someone who appears docile, and reserved, they will try to take advantage. If you take a polite, but very stern approach, they'll probably do the opposite as a means of 'damage control'.

Fact is, they can't say you're not entitled to the same amount. Straight up, man. I paid a good bit for mine last year, and it's been a waste since purchase. What gives them the right to say its depreciated when they took my money for a product that never delivered? I could've saved that money, put it in a bank, or invested into a scheme, made a profit, and bought a much better laptop a few months later. You get what I'm saying?

I have read your case now, and they have screwed up from point-to-point. You did your part in reasonable amounts to cooperate with their solution methods. Their solutions methods didn't quite work out the way they should have. Ideally, your original product for the original 'x' amount did not deliver, and so you should get back that original amount.

As for Raid - not important. Some people like it, and use it in their machines. You'll get your two hard drives, and you can do whatever the hell it is that you wanna' do with 'em. You can access the disk controls after changing bios configuration, and setup a non-raid config, if you please. Of course, when you do put a system in raid, or switch back from raid, both hard drives will be wiped clean.

 

update:
Dell don't give me the refund because i'm second owner.
Against the law but i go further.
He said we can come to pick up youre xps and send it to the factory and within 2 weeks you get it back,................i say why i have then the NBD warranty then....thats all we can do sorry, .............grrrrr
That was my very last call to dell now its for the court to descide.

 

hmm.. i get your point.. but the way i calculate it, the 1202 im paying is kinda like paying for the qx9300 processor since its an extra 1355 dollars from the basic processor and thats what i had on my 1730. they are going to send the price my system has 'depreciated' to me tomorrow.


so regarding the raid, does it mean if i recieve my system with windows installed on it and i disable the raid in the bios config the windows will be totally wiped off?

 

It is a software RAID.

*Edit: if you disable RAID, you will format the drives <-- lose all the data. If it were RAID-1, you could disable the array and get 50% more space and keep the data. It may be disabled in the BIOS (you have to hit F6? or something during Windows installation). You can also turn it off through Control panel/Administrative services/disks management (paraphrasing there).

 

hmm.. ok.. so i should get the raid 1 option if raid cannot be disabled so that windows wont be wiped completely the moment i receive the thing and disable via bios.

u mentioned turning it off through control panel, which means if i disable it through windows and its a raid 0 will i still be forced to format the windows off?

 

I recently got an M1730 with 8800M GTX SLI and I have this EXACT problem. I have been trying EVERYTHING to fix it, but so far NOTHING !!! I am getting very frustrated and I was wondering if anyone has a solution to this problem? If I cannot fix this then I will be getting rid of my M1730 immediately. Apparently SLI is just as flawed as it was the last time I tried it (back in 2006). The XPS M1730 really is a terrible machine as far as I can tell. Who the hell cares about a few more 3D Marks if the DVI image is CORRUPTED?

Anyway, you all are my last hope. Here are the specific details of my problem:

In 3D mode with SLI enabled and an external display connected to the DVI port horizontal lines flicker only when certain high-contrast color combinations occur. Sometimes it is only one line flickering, sometimes it is several lines, and sometimes it is many. Most of the time there is no flickering, but then certain color combinations can cause it. It seems to depend where I am looking in a scene. If I look at a certain spot in a game it might flicker, but if I turn my character and look somewhere else it no longer flickers. It seems to happen most near bright yellow, orange, and red, but not always.

I have tried many drivers from 16x, 17x, 18x, 19x ... all the same, NO change.

It ONLY happens on the external display. It NEVER happens on the laptop screen.

It ONLY happens in SLI mode. It NEVER happens when SLI is disabled.

It can happen at any resolution. I have seen it at 1280x800, 1440x900, 1920x1200, etc.

Screenshots do not show the problem.

I wanted to see if I could prove that this is not a DVI encoding problem. I used a DVI-to-VGA plug adapter to connect an external display using VGA. The problem was exactly the same on DB15, so I do not suspect a bad cable or a DVI encoding problem.

My external display is Dell 2405FPW, but it doesn't really matter because this happens on any display I connect.

Also, I have several other laptops in the house (XPS M1530, Inspiron E1705, Inspiron 1501, Vostro 1720) and have connected them ALL to my external display with NO problems (using DVI, HDMI, and DB15 in various cases).

I have played with the multi-display/multi-gpu settings in the NVIDIA control panel - no change. I have also changed the SLI rendering type - no change.

Also I want to point out that you can play for hours and never see the problem. It just depends if you get just the right set of colors. For exmaple, half life 2 is pretty much perfect, until you die and the screen goes RED. At that point the flickering is going CRAZY.

ZenithNoesis posted a perfect quick way to test for this problem. Simply launch CounterStrike: Source, click Find Servers, and then highlight a single server. The grey/orange color combination causes the flickering to occur on those lines, every time.

I am really hoping that someone has a solution for this. Also, even if you don't have a solution you can still help me: If you have an M1730 with 8800M GTX SLI, could you please connect a display on DVI and test CounterStrike Source in the manner described above and post the results? Thank you!

I am going nuts here. I hate this machine. Please help me like it.

 

. . .I am very sorry.

Reading stuff like this only motivates me to move away from Dell.

Hell, even I'm worried about my own circumstances. I mean, what if they take my machine, but then never process the refund?

Bloody companies.

 

This is my first post hope it is in the right place. Does anyone else have a problem with their 1730 not sitting flat on a table. I had a Dell tech come out and he said that is normal , I prop up the back of the unit when gaming to help with the cooling and that stops the issue. I am just wondering if it really is normal. Thanks in advance.

 

Some people have had that problem and fixed it by adding extra rubber to some of the feet. I don`t have that issue because I prop it in the back on purpose for better airflow...

 

It is unfortunate that it usually takes someone having a problem for them to be motivated enough to post on here. I just wanted to say I love my Xps M1730 and have had 0 problems so far(touch wood). I feel sorry for all you guy's that have issues, but there are 10 satisfied customers for every 1 of you. Having said that good luck to everyone who is dealing with dell customer support, they are frustrating at the best of times!!

 

Heh. You seem like a cool guy, so I really hope you don't take what I am going to say the wrong way.

Is there a factual study behind that ratio that you just put up? You know, the 1-to-10 - satisfied-to-dissatisfied, respectively? No really, I'm looking for actual backup data. Because based on this forum, which is among the lead notebook discussion forums on the web, the ratio seems be the other way around by way of complaints and issues about the M1730. There's far fewer people not having problems, and being satisfied with their machine and supports present state.

I would really like to read up more on this satisfied-to-dissatisfied customer ratio, so an independant and reputable review source would be greatly appreciated. I think I could offer them some new insights into the matter, and give them another reason to review their case-study of Dell 'customer satisfaction'. It's always good to update reviews of things that aren't a one-time concept, especially when they're undergoing constant change for the better, and mostly the worse.

 

hmm,.... there are undercovers from Dell support on this forum,...

 

Why not? Everyone's got a bloody agenda. We already have resellers on this forum, some good, while some who try to manipulate. We also have members with an agenda who often end up accusing their opponents of being 'resellers'.

Frankly, I don't care about how many or how few we got on this place, it only speaks to just how important and powerful the demographics on this website really are in the bigger picture. However, if someone makes a claim, for example 1 out of every 10 Alienware users will have a breakdown, or vice-versa, then I expect to see a link to a non-Dell funded study, or a confession of just how far up the corporate ladder do they work for Alienware, or Dell, or whatever.

Edit:
Heh! I just got a -dandy- idea! I don't think I'll be leaving the XPS M1730 club just yet.

 

Most of the owners are here not for problems but for driver inf-ormation (pun!). What has happened over the last 3 months is the number of problems has skyrocketed for these owners. Yes we have had some people join up with a problem and it's easy to spot them small post count and recent joining dates.

As for the 10 to 1. I dunno maybe you're right because surely Dell has sold more 1730's than what we see of the owners here that have problems. As for the 10 to 1, I'm guessing you're basing that on marketing statistics that show 1 out of 10 customers will be unhappy?

As for you, you will most probably have a good run - as long as you keep it at 3.4Ghz. You will notice us plebs with the lower CPU's have more problems.

I would like to propose a thought maybe we should move the problems with 1730's to a new thread? I've been thinking about it for a while as the problems do out weigh the owner to owner help and any questions asked can be left pages back behind advice about dealing with Dell. I'm happy to stay here as well just wondering what you owners think?

 

I would 2nd that, this thread has a lot more to offer than Dell Bashing.

 

Kade I honestly think your post came off too aggressive. You still sound sensitive about your own problems, and I'm sure what the person was saying wasn't really statistical fact but more anecdotal. Dell wouldn't have sold the computer for this long if it had accrued as many complaints as I know you're implying. It's simply too expensive on a commercial level to be sending out computers with such inherently bad construction and components. Dell has been selling computers for over a decade and I'm sure they have plenty of experienced people working on their staff calculating exactly when computers should be cut off from the public based on poor PR or poor construction like the nVidia g4/g6 fiascos.

Do I think there is an inherent design flaw somewhere in the XPS? Yes, it's the 8800's. Do I think everyone will encounter it somewhere throughout their computer's life? Probably, but the rate at which we're receiving complaints on the forum (face it - there's not going to be an independent study on satisfied to unsatisfied customers for the XPS), it's easy to infer there's a 10-1 satisfied to unsatisfied customer base.

Some people abuse their computers, like me, and some people have lemons, because the computers are shoddily put together in Malaysia and the rate of poor design is bound to happen when labor overhead makes up less than 1% of the computer's cost to the manufacturer.

While I do think the forum is very powerful and has a HUGE unmatched member base, I don't think it's an accurate representation of the customer base for the 1730. Not everyone that gets an expensive computer is a computer geek like us, and wants to live and breathe support and solutions for their computers. Some people simply buy expensive computers because they're media gluttons <-- more expensive = infinitely better. And then of course most people only post when they're desperate. Most people in fact only post for help or complaints when the problem has become a nuisance to general everyday computing.

I'm not crazy, Kade. There's a reason people keeping popping in to say they have had no problems with their computers. Maybe they coddle their computers or spray them with air daily. I don't know. I'll level with you on one thing - the XPS could have been a helluva lot better with some key design alerations. But the XPS isn't an all-out fail like you seem to be implying.

 

Batboy made a "Dell problems and resolutions thread" but it's pretty dead right now. The problem was that some people were posting in one thread, while others were posting in this one. At one point, I said screw it and went back to posting here since this is where everyone else is...

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=102187

 

@Zath: I tried bud. lol

 

You've pretty much stated what we've all stated, and what you've stated already in the past, so I'm not going to argue about the real points that you've raised. I agree with them.

However, I wasn't aggressive, I was curious. Kindly do not psychoanalyse my statements - I think you're reading way too much into what I've said rather than take the statements at face value. This stuff doesn't make me brood or indulge in cerebral sessions; I've got far bigger problems than this computer or what Dell owes me. But, when it is a matter of money and quality and I am here to discuss support, then I will make blunt statements where I think they're required.

This is exactly why I stated what I stated before the post was made in full - don't take it the wrong way.

You think his statement was more of an axiom than a real citation. Fair enough. You then state that there is a reason why people come in here and praise their machines. Fair enough, again. But when one person does both, and the 'anecdotal' statement is delivered in a very specific manner, I will get curious. I genuinely get intrigued by ratios when I'm given real numbers.

Do correct me if I'm wrong, because I am in no way above this business, or any other member. This is exactly why I don't resort to numbers and use them to divide the userbase, until and unless I'm actually using them as citation, and not just a general statement and assumption. I haven't even been so against the M1730, but more against some of the things Dell is doing to people - now that's serious. For example, I don't believe these cards are as much of an issue,; I think it's a thermal problem, and an overclocked X9000 might provide better longevity for the M1730.

Once again, I don't hold any ill-will against this person who posted the comment, but this is not the first time I've heard the exact 1-to-10 mantra. So I really am curious to know of the origins of this notion/idea. But if it's just an anecdote, then fine. Why can't I make an anecdote myself? Think about it that way. One party can say these machines are reliable and make their little witty 'pitch', then another should very well have the right to say they're not - I'm officially with that camp. And what's this about 'me implying'; I was counter-acting the other guy's statement with a notion. What IF I was to rely on the general reviews and complaints about the system, which would say otherwise? Doesn't mean I subscribe this this belief, but it simply means that anyone can take experiences and use them to present and support his-or-her own conclusions. Fact is - neither of us know how many of them work fine and how many don't - maybe it's better to leave hearsay as hearsay. My friend ain't tech-savvy, and he may buy an XPS M1730, and end up having Dell replace his cards twenty times without complain - statistically, he'll remain a 'happy customer'. You know, these bickerings over details, they throw this entire situation all over the radar, and that is not worth the talk-time for me.

As for the relevance of the forum demographic and who gets on and gets off. I think the mere fact that people with no issues that get on to praise these machines, once again, tells you volumes about how often this place is accessed by a wider demographic than we're both willing to acknowledge. I actually read solutions on this forum for ages before registering as a member. After all, laptops and gadgets always have problems, and the interweb is the quick fix for us all. I will politely disagree with you on the idea of exactly how much of the M1730 userbase visits this site, and how well this forum might represent the experience of M1730 users. I personally think that it represents a good portion of the userbase, and exposes and solves a good degree of the problems faced by all the users at some point, even those that don't actually post around here. I'll also admit that I don't know any of this for fact, so the day a fact that speaks contrary to my theory, pops in, I'll happily and publicly admit that I had the wrong idea and detract my assumption. Until then - no dice.

Later.

 

Well I do like to provoke debate! But just to let you know I wasn't offended by your post in the least. I think it is fairly clear that people will have a variety of different view's on their machine. The 10 - 1 was merely an uneducated guess, just based on the overall popularity of the machine, coupled with the period of time it has been available, the fact it is distributed worldwide and the fact that it has been economically viable for dell. I could be way off, but i doubt Iam. And I am a hardcore gamer who play's almost every night (much to the detriment of my marriage!). So I probably am lucky I run Oc'd which helps temps and possibly that I have 9800m's rather than 8800m's, but that said I still feel there are many others who have and still do love their Xps M1730 regardless of config. I do feel for those that have issue's as it can be hugely frustrating! Just thought it would be good to read the thread one night and not see 2 pages of people with problems, it gives me a sad feeling of forboding (lol). I agree that this is an excellent and well used forum, but I think it probably represent's a very samll cross section of M1730 owners in reality.
I welcome further debate. I will have to google M1730 sales figures and see if we can glean any truth from it all. Ohh and I don't work for dell, if I did I would have upgraded everyone with problems to the M17x!
P.S. Excuse any bad grammar and lack of paragraph's but it is 2.40 am and I have just been playing L4D for hour's.
Cheers all.

 

To be honest, I like being able to post here on this thread since I know most of the people subscribed to it own the same laptop I do. That's not guaranteed in the other thread.

I also like how it breaks up the constant "zomg how do I get frame rates up?"; "what drivers are the best"; "omg is this too hot"; etc... posts

 

Hello:

Under my device manager settings...I noticed that one of my devices is not working properly.
I cannot figure what it is.

Location: PCI bus 5, device 1, function 3
The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)

To reinstall the drivers for this device, click Reinstall Driver.
attached are the screen shots:

my system:
2.4, 8gb ram, 256 ssd, 9800 sli
thank you.

 

this IS the same problem im facing except that mine is on an external monitor not a hd tv. most people dont get this problem cos it DOES NOT happen when sli is off OR on low resolutions. so far ive only had problems starting from 1280x1024 or something like that. anything below is ok even with sli on. and this is the reason why im trying to get a replacement/refund.

i think you should too cos if u dont intend to use ur 1730's screen for gaming and intend to use a larger screen with a high resolution, youll prolly get the problem all over.


there is no solution, even dell doesnt have one. Im thinking it is becos of the custom designed sli cards that are lacking bandwidth to the outputs or something.

 

haha.. get the refund THEN return it..

 

Do you have a PPU installed? Ageia PhysX card. If so, reinstall the PhysX drivers.

Start with this:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_8.09.04_whql.html

Then this:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_9.09.0814.html

Install OVER each other - do not uninstall.

 

It looks like your memory stick controller, I have three xD, SD/MMC and memory stick; try to re-install the RIOCH drivers from here:
http://xpsm1730.blogspot.com/2009/03/xps-m1730-vista-drivers-64-bit.html

 

I am surprised that nobody knows of a solution to this GLARING problem. I have now confirmed that at least THREE people on this forum have this problem, and there is no resolution.

I was wondering if a few people could stop arguing about how much Dell sucks for 5 minutes and maybe chime in to let me know whether they experience this issue ... ? The thread grew 4 pages since I posted this issue and almost every single post is mindless arguing about whether Dell is SUPER NEAT or TOTALLY GAY.

So let me summarize the question: How many of you 8800M GTX SLI folks use external displays connected on DVI with SLI enabled? Do you have any flickering horizontal lines in certain scenes in 3D mode?

A picture is attached. It is from the Half-Life 2 death cam, which makes the lines occur pretty bad (because of the bright red color).

Thanks everyone

 

as i said before its prolly the output bandwidth problem cos the output to the laptop screen is also a special one at the middle of the cards but the output to external screens are at the side so im guessing there isnt enough bandwidth for the throughput when sli is enabled. our sli setups also do not have an sli bridge and is running on one pci e slot.

either that or the design of the cards were made without gaming on external monitors in mind.. the engineers probably thought a 17 inch would be big enough for everyone and no one would use external monitors.. thats why never ask a non gamer to design a gaming system.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Hmmm ... what does the plug location have to do with bandwidth?

And for that matter what does screen size have to do with bandwidth?

My external 24" LCD monitor is the SAME resolution as the M1730's own panel: 1920x1200

Also it happens at the CS: Souce server selection screen. How could it be a bandwidth problem? There is hardly anything complex happening on that screen.

I don't think you are on the right track. I think this is a bug or a defect of some kind. Remember, the laptop panel works FINE, but the external display has lines ONLY when there are certain color combinations.

 

not the screen size, its the resolution.. higher resolutions require more pixel shading or whatever i think.. i know only certain colors have the lines.. mostly red, when theres fire, white when theres clear sky and sometimes blue.

as for the plug location, if uve noticed the plug is located at the left side, attached to the left card. im guessing its the master card and during sli the slave on the right does its work and then has to go through the master card to get to the output and thats where there isnt enough channels to let them sync quickly hence the distortion.

its the exact same problem im having.. my laptop screen is fine too. just ask for a refund if your system is brand new and get something else if you cant stand it. ive been using a single card for over a year due to that problem when im connected to my external monitor.. it has been hell..

 

Well first of all, that is how desktop SLI works. One card is master and so you connect to that one.

Secondly, I just want to reiterate that my external monitor (Dell 2405FPW) is the same resolution as the laptop's own panel (1920x1200), so I do not believe that this discussion of 'bandwidth' is relevant.

Thanks for sharing your experiences though. At least I know I am not the only one.

NVIDIA sucks, especially SLI.

 

@ the Expert. If someone had an answer for you they would've put it up. As it is I don't use an external monitor.

You've walked into the middle of an ongoing discussion that started months ago. There has always been lively discussions on all things 1730 but not everyone will get their question answered - I know I've still got a few outstanding. Maybe you might care to look back in the pages for my questions and respond with your expert opinion.

 

and also, ive noticed the distortion is worse when u use afr 1 and 2 where each card renders alternate frames each. which i think is again caused by the 2nd card having to go through the first card to get to the output and not having enough bandwidth through to the first card and the output area..

i guess the output for the laptop screen is different and located at the middle so maybe both cards only have to send their signals to the middle portion, hence having enough bandwidth to not show distortions

 

i dont beleive its an nvidia problem. similar cases on desktop sli systems are solved by removing the bridge for some reason and using the pci e s to connect them.

my external 24 inch is also 1920x1200

 

I have this problem aswell, with 9 out of 10 drivers. So it seems a driver issue. When I play World of Warcraft though, it happens 10 out of 10 drivers, when I have a smoothing option enabled, Its like 2 projections want to merge, but they're not lined together, making alot of stripes. Would upload a pic for it from woW. But dont have a camera lying around this time.

The Dell dude, doesnt respond on his email about my swap yet. System is on its way... I dont even know the setup. We made a deal Dell is picking up my M1730. But I'll just pretend not being home, to avoid any messing up.

Studio XPS 16 is better... but the 4670 is so much worse than the 8800M GTX Sli. That I wont agree with that swap.